Hülkenberg Pleased with Close Pace to Alpine and RB in Qatar

Hülkenberg continues his strong qualifying form, matching the pace of Alpine and RB F1, and remains positive for the upcoming Sprint.

Nico Hülkenberg qualified in the top 10 once again, maintaining strong consistency for the Haas F1 driver, though he was disappointed with his SQ3 performance. However, he is pleased to be matching the pace of Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly, who will fight for points with RB F1 and Alpine.

“It was a good, clean qualifying. We might need to review SQ3 because we had a different race setup compared to everyone else, so we’ll probably need to understand that,” said Hülkenberg.

“Otherwise, it was a solid session, and once again, very close to Alpine and RB. We’re all close, and overall, it’s a compact midfield. It’s a very fast track, with lots of grip on the tarmac, and it’s certainly physical and demanding.”

“The Sprint is tough for everyone in the midfield to score points because there are no usual top-10 places, so we’ll see. A lot can happen, and you need to stay in the mix. You have to stay in the fight. Everything is still up for grabs.”

Kevin Magnussen failed to improve his final run in SQ2 and will start 15th for the Sprint: “The car was quite good. I got pressured by traffic on my out-lap and ended up starting my flying lap right behind Nico, which wasn’t ideal.”

“But the car was good, and we have a good chance tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes; it’s obviously a Sprint with no pit stops, so we’ll need to overtake on track.”